Broken
by Firestorm
Summary: A terrible fight with Sage leads Ryo to question their friendship when he is thrust with the responsibility of a strange infant. Rowen, Kento, and Cye are willing to help, however, will Sage forgive him? Thank you, Sif!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ronins.

FS: So after many a hiatus, I decided to try my hand at another Ronin fanfic. Also, I am not entirely sure what I am doing with this one yet, so it may or may not be finished. I have other priorities such as my sequel to The Warriors: The Beginning (found on Amazon), school, and getting better from Mono. Also, Sifirela has really inspired me to write a RW fan fiction out of her Saving Grace. I highly recommend it for reading. So I dedicate this to her. I should also make this clear before I forget, Sage IS an asshole in this fanfic. But we still love him regardless. J

Chapter 1

Running. That was all he knew how to do. Run and run. Run until he could run no more. It wasn't the arguments he had with his friends. It wasn't the sudden death of his classmate/lab partner that jolted his senses and like everything else caused him to blame himself. And it wasn't the fact that he had hurt Sage. He hadn't meant to though. He let his anger take over when Sage criticized him in that cold demeanor and before Ryo knew it he had popped Sage in his mouth hard enough to knock the blond out.

Ryo had tried to apologize to Sage, but Sage had only fixated him with an intensive stare of rage before brushing off his left shoulder. A move that meant you were out of Sage's circle. Don't look at him, don't even talk to him. And Ryo hadn't been able to talk to Sage. Sure, he could talk to the others, but when he tried with Sage, the bastard only brushed his left shoulder and then completely behaved as if he didn't exist.

'_What the hell's the matter with him any way?'_ Ryo wondered. If Sage had just watched his mouth, he would have never enticed Ryo to punch him. Then again, his conscience returned, if you had taken the chance to actually listen to his criticism, you would not have punched him.

Ryo seethed. He hated his conscience at times. But it was right. And he was wrong. He was always in the wrong. And still he could not stop thinking that Sage was at fault too. The blond wasn't as perfect as he thought he was. Far from it. And so Ryo continued to run.

Cye watched Ryo run the tenth lap from the living room window as he sat Indian style on the resting area in front of the window. A book laid face down with the title A Rising Thunder by David Webber at his feet. He slowly shook his head. "How much longer is he going to keep on running?" he asked.

"Who knows, Cye?" Rowen shook his head and rubbed a hand through his tousled hair. "You know Ryo. When he's in his mood, there's no stopping him." He glanced back at Sage but the blond did not move from his position off the couch. His pale hands held another book titled: Andromeda by Keith R. A. DeCandido and his violet eyes never stopped moving side ways. The bearer of Strata sighed inwardly. It had been three days and still Sage had not let go of his fury. This was bad because as a team they weren't very good now.

'_And to think we've all been through so much these last few years,'_ Rowen thought to himself. And now one bad fight had possibly destroyed their friendship. Unfortunately, Ryo and Sage were a lot more alike than some realized. Both were impatient, temperamental, and down right selfish, and the worst of it, both were extremely selfish

"Sage," he began..

"I am not talking to him," Sage said without taking his eyes off the book. "He can run out there as long as he wants until he collapses from his exhaustion that he seems to be seeking. Not that it would help him learn his lesson any way. Ryo is a stubborn fool with bricks for brains."

"That was harsh," Cye scolded Sage from his perch. He turned his book over and glanced down at the page hoping that maybe if he read a word or two he'd be encourage to read it. No luck there. He hated it when friends fought, even still felt guilty when he had punched Rowen himself and then even Kento. Which was why he couldn't blame Ryo for punching Sage. But he also couldn't blame Sage for putting Ryo on his physical ignore list. But Sage's words were just cruel if not disrespectful.

Sage did not answer Cye, but simply continued to read. On the inside he felt agitated. It was bad enough that Ryo had punched him and caused him to get five stitches in his lip, but this other cold calculating feeling suppressed him and made him feel all the more irritated. And thanks to summer reading program Mia forced them to sign up-something that Ryo _should _have been partaking in right now-it was quite difficult to concentrate. Curse it all

Now and then he would secretly glance up at the window and watch as Ryo's form ran past, a move he had perfected from years of practice. It was getting dark outside and Ryo's dinner plate had remained on the table, untouched from the time Cye had put it there. That had been two hours ago. Well, if the fool wanted to run and pass out instead of coming inside to eat let him. It sure wasn't going to ruin Sage's day. Besides it would teach Ryo another well rounded lesson.

Thinking no more about Ryo, Sage concentrated on his reading assignment.

Kento whistled happily as he walked up the dirt path to the Yonamanyi Guesthouse. A year ago, after what had happened during their last battle, Mia had suggested they moved in together, and suggested a guest house. She had a friend who owned such a place, Professor Yonamanyi who professed analytical science and who was only too happy to let them stay there to rent permanently. Of course the rent hadn't been cheap. Each of them had pulled their savings and once a month budgeted to decide who would pay what bill. But they had figured it out with Rowen's calculations skills and that still left them enough with the most important expense. Food.

He paused for a moment to rummage through the bag and found the box he was looking for. After tearing it open and popping a few chips into his mouth he continued on his way toward the house. His eyes suddenly squinted though. Was that Ryo?

He walked closer, still eating the chips for a better look. Yep. It was Ryo. What the hell was he still doing out running? Kento frowned as he watched Ryo get farther and farther from him before he called out to him. "Yo, Ryo!"

Ryo slowed down and stopped completely as he looked behind him. A red flushed look had long ago swept over his cheeks and his breaths came out in short quick gasps. He bent a little to touch his knees, panting like a dog, and he waited for Kento to catch up to him.

"Geeze, Ryo," Kento said in amazement. "I left after I ate and you're still out here?"

"I can't go back inside," Ryo said lamely as he straightened up to his full height. He glanced back toward the house.

Kento sighed. "Ryo, c'mon man.. You're better than this. You know how Sage gets. We've all gotten into spats before. One of you has to get over it."

"That's the problem, Kento. Neither of us can get over it. Sage is too busy with his superiority, and me I'm…"

"Having the same issue," Kento interrupted. Ryo gave him an odd look. Kento sighed. "Look, Ryo. I'm not smart, and I'd rather go in a diet or hit a bokken against a dummy instead of an enemy. I'd even rather listen to my grandmother's story about how she supposedly met Elvis at a dance club while touring the US. I'd rather do all these things instead of seeing you and Sage at odds with each other. Come on, man.. You know I speak the truth. This silent treatment is further separating you both."

Ryo did not answer.

"Ryo…you and he can't stay mad at each other forever," Kento said.

"Look Kento, I," Ryo began to say before he was suddenly cut off by a strange flash of light. He snapped his head toward it. "What was that?" Before Kento could answer Ryo took off running deep into the brush woods that filled a square of the property.

Kento blinked in shock. "Ah hell," he said after a moment. He tucked the bag closed, and ran after Ryo. By now Ryo had already disappeared into the thickness of the density, and as he pushed, and snapped and ducked under trees he tried to see which way Ryo might have possibly gone. Damn it all. Why did Ryo have to do these things? "And especially when I was scolding him for being a dumbass!" he grumbled angrily as he used one arm to help him push his way further into the forest.

Ryo had gotten thirty feet from Kento and ignored his name being called. Up ahead his eyes rested upon a strange air-craft smoking from under it, the nose of it flattened toward the ground and its port windows blown out. If he had to guess it looked like a traveling air-craft, or an escape pod as Rowen would have called it.

"Wow," Ryo breathed in awe before his arm was suddenly grabbed. Instinctively, he jerked around with his other fist poised for a punch, but stopped short when he noticed the small frame woman with very pale blond hair. Her large azure eyes gazed pleadingly at him and it took him a moment to notice she carried an infant wrapped in blankets. He lowered his fist.

"Can you help me?" she begged, eyeing the area around them as if she were nervous. "_Will _you help me?"

"Uhhh.. Who are you? What's the matter?" Ryo asked as his mind suddenly stopped working.

She shook her head. "I can't explain! No time! Please take care of her!" She thrust the infant into Ryo's arms and before he could say anything she ran off from him and toward the thickness of the woods.

"Hey wait!" Ryo called after her.

"Her name is Nora!" the woman called back. And then she was gone.

Ryo sighed. And then looked down at the infant. She stared up at him with the same azure eyes as the woman, drawing him inward. But now a responsibility rested on his shoulders. Terrific. Now what was he suppose to do?

"Ryo! Man! I hate when you take off and then you don't answer," Kento complained angrily as he stomped over, the bag crinkling in his hand.

"Kento…" Ryo said. "We have a big problem." He turned around and showed the infant to him.

Kento froze any words that were originally going to come out of his mouth and stared in shock at the quiet, observing infant. He blinked twice, certain it was a trick, or something. But it wasn't. The infant remained there in Ryo's arm and Ryo looked well quite discontented and uncertain.

"Where did she come from?" he asked after a moment. And then he noticed the ship. "And where did _that_ thing come from?"

"Some woman.. She came out of nowhere and asked me to help her. But before I could get any information out of her, she handed me this baby and ran off. Said her name was Nora." Ryo looked back down at the infant who yawned and closed her eyes. It was strange. He would have figured the infant would have been crying for that woman. But instead, she seemed quite calm. It was freaky. He glanced back toward the ship and a million questions ran through his mind. Had that ship been that woman's? Where had she come from? Was she in trouble? Was this her daughter? Damn it. Rowen would have known what to do right away when it came to things like these. Unfortunately he didn't know. And that drove him crazy.

Kento rubbed the back of his head and grimaced. "We better tell the others, Ryo. They need to know about this."


	2. Chapter 2

Broken

Chapter 2

"Are you crazy?" Rowen stared dubiously at the infant Ryo and Kento had brought in, uncertain if Ryo's ability to think had been damaged by lack of oxygen to his brain while he had been using it for running those hours. Nearby Cye stood and stared in surprise and Sage merely looked on disapprovingly. It wasn't like Ryo to do things like these. He was smarter than that. Never before took unnecessary chances. And a baby…while that was a large chance.

"Look Rowen, don't judge me," Ryo snapped a little. "I'm just as upset about this as you are. But the woman took off before I could even say any thing." He looked down at the infant who had fallen asleep in his arm, still peaceful looking as ever. But Rowen was right he reflected. This was crazy. What the hell was he going to do with a baby?

"You should call the Police," Rowen said. "Tell them about this abandoned baby."

"She wasn't abandoned!" Ryo argued. "The lady asked for help, asked me to take care of her."

Rowen sighed and ran a hand through his hair. This was ridiculous. Why did Ryo have to be so damn stubborn all of the time? They didn't have any possible means on how to care for an infant. No diapers, no formula, not even baby food or a crib. And they already had many expenses as it was. How were they going to care for an infant who had needs?

"Ryo, I understand you want to help. You've got a big heart," Rowen said carefully. "But you do realize that we do not have the means to take care of her, right? A baby needs necessities, things we can't afford. What would she eat? Where would she sleep? If we took her to the Police they'll get her better care and they'll find her mother."

"I doubt it, man," Kento spoke up as he returned from the kitchen to catch the last few sentences. He was munching on chips from the very bag he had earlier. "There was some spaceship there. I bet the woman came from that."

"Spaceship?" Cye repeated.

"Yeah. Me and Ryo both saw it. It was neat looking."

"I think it was an escape pod," Ryo said as he described what they had seen the best he could. Kento was probably right. Why else would the woman have appeared out of nowhere, ask for his help, and then vanish all of the sudden? He frowned. Was the woman in trouble? Or was the infant in danger?

"An escape pod could only mean one thing," Rowen said after a few minutes of silence. "The woman was running from something or someone."

"But why though?" Cye asked. "And wouldn't an escape pod mean she's not from Earth?"

"Not necessarily," Rowen said. "They have space stations in space that they use for explorers. But it would not make sense for her to be on a space station with an infant. They don't allow them in space because of too much risk."

"So then…?"

"I'm saying you're right, Cye. It is very likely she's not from Earth…but it's also possible that she was on Earth and moved to other space dimensions. And the reason I think so is because Ryo could understand her." Rowen looked back toward Ryo. "Ryo, what did this woman look like any way?"

Ryo paused as he reflected. The woman didn't look any different from most women he had seen. Sure her hair looked like a very pale blond and her eyes were rather large. She had very pale skin that reminded him of Sage-oh right, he wasn't suppose to think about him-, to him she looked well normal. He shrugged. "Not much different than any other women I've seen. Long pale blond, almost white, hair down to her butt, azure eyes that were large. She looked almost as pale as… well, she was pale, but definitely not sick. She was thin frame, but reached my height."

"Sounds human to me," Cye said with a smile.

"She does…and if it wasn't for the eye color I'd say she was an albino," Rowen said. He looked at the infant again. "I definitely think that woman is this baby's mother, and if not her mother then some relative."

"I kind of guessed that," Ryo said lamely. He shifted a little, hoping to ease the weight of the sleeping baby in his arms. She still hadn't woken up yet and again he was overcome with surprise. Didn't babies cry a lot?

"I still think we should call the Police and let them handle this…but since there's an escape pod…we should probably investigate first," Rowen said after a minute of hesitation.

"Rowen, can I speak to you for a minute?" Sage suddenly spoke up and stood up from the couch. The look in his eyes said it was serious and that it was private between the two. The blond turned away and headed behind the couch and up the stairs.

Rowen followed him and found him around the bend of the rail in the little off-hall. "Sage, what's up?"

"That baby Ryo has is not normal," Sage said without missing a beat.

"I'm beginning to think so myself based on the escape pod Kento said was there," Rowen said.

"It's not just the escape pod. I can sense something about her. She is not normal and she is definitely not human." Sage crossed his arms. "Plus there's something else too. I sense she has a spirit, but not much of a soul. And by this I mean she has no collective consciousness that babies normally do. Babies cry when they are hungry, wet, scared, lonely, and when they're not around people they know. Furthermore she's very calm and relaxed as if she knows she's suppose to be here."

"You're basically saying she's an alien then," Rowen ventured.

"If you want to call her that, then yes," Sage answered with a nod of his head. "I think we need to be careful though. This baby is very intelligent and that could prove disastrous."

"I know, and that's what worries me. We know we can't take her to the Police since there is that issue with the escape pod. But somehow, I think we need a woman's advice on this." Rowen reached into his jean pocket and took out his cell phone. Mia would know what to do. After all, women had a special connection with babies. Well, most of them.

Sage left Rowen and went back downstairs.

Downstairs Ryo was trying to unsuccessfully pull off the baby's garments. The baby with a simple smile kept kicking her legs and making things very impossible for him. Did she enjoy this? Sure seemed like it. And his patience was wearing thin.

Next to him was his shirt soaked through from the baby's sudden release of urine. It had been a oh yuck, I can't believe this happened, kind of moment. Cye had already gone into the laundry room to find a new shirt for Ryo to wear and to retrieve a plastic bag and a pair of tongs to get the urine soaked shirt.

"Please, hold still," Ryo begged pathetically as he kept trying to get the infant's bottoms off. But once again she smiled and kicked his wrists away.

At this point, Sage walked over and pushed Ryo out of the way, causing him to hit the floor on his butt. Ryo leaped up immediately, enraged, and yelled, "What the hell was that for?"

But Sage gave him a harsh, cold glare that stopped him in his tracks, and then like before simply brushed off his left shoulder. He turned to the baby and stared deep into her eyes, his expression from harsh and cold turning to firm gentleness. At this the baby smiled again, but stopped kicking.

Ryo growled under his breath. Damn it, Sage didn't have to push him like that. And why was he still being an asshole for any way? He tightened his fists and felt a little envious as Sage managed to easily pull off the baby's bottoms.

"Kento, get me two soft cloths. One damp and warm, the other dry. And find my powder and bring down one of my old shirts I use for relaxing." Sage pulled off the bottom and crumbled it up just as Cye returned from the laundry room. Kento nodded and left.

"Ryo, here," Cye said and handed him a clean shirt. He looked at Sage and smiled. "Well, it was nice to see you help Ryo, Sage."

"The idiot didn't know what he was doing," Sage said as he tossed the wet diaper into the plastic bag.

Ryo growled at that. Damn it. Why couldn't Sage just stop it already? He used the tongs to pick up his wet shirt and deposited in the same bag as the diaper, then tied it shut and took it away. He had to get away from Sage before he punched him again.

A few minutes later, Kento returned whistling as he handed Sage the requested items. Then sitting on the extended window ledge he watched as Sage cleaned, dried, powdered, and ripped his shirt to make a diaper.

"Don't you need, you know…safety pins or something?" Kento asked. "My mom always had to use them for Yun."

"No," Sage said as he finished the job and picked up the baby. She smiled at him again, looking content.

"Wow nice work, Sage," Cye said with eyes wide. How Sage had managed to make a workable diaper out of his own shirt without safety pins was simply astounding. Where had Sage learned to do this? Or was it something he had simply figured out himself?

"I didn't see the need for safety pins," Sage said as he handed the baby to Cye and walked back to the couch. He sat down and picked up his book as if he hadn't done anything in the first place.

Cye shook his head with a slight grin. Sometimes Sage was hard to figure out even when he meant well. He looked down at the smiling infant. "You're are so cute. Yes you are. You are just so cute!"

"Hey guys," Rowen said catching their attention. "I just spoke to Mia. I told her about the baby and the possibility of her being an alien. She's coming over to help us figure things out…but she's stopping at the store first to get us some supplies for the baby."

"Good," Cye said and once again he looked down at the smiling infant and smiled back down at her.

Ryo returned from the laundry room just in time to catch the news of Mia. Good at least they were going to get help from someone who wasn't arrogant with it. And maybe she could talk some sense into Sage. He looked at the others though, but not toward Sage. "When Mia comes, tell her I'm outside walking. I need to clear my head."

"Alright, Ryo," Rowen said as he frowned.

Ryo went out the door and closed it behind him as everyone else looked toward Sage. But Sage hadn't looked up from his book, preferring to pay attention to it than to deal with Ryo's overemotional behavior. In fact he downright refused to give Ryo an inch of recovery. And if Ryo had to suffer to learn from his mistakes, well, that wasn't Sage's problem either.


End file.
